Shekinah Retreat Centre is set in the river valley on 287 acres of land. With a remarkable setting and some excellent facilities a lot goes on here. The purpose of this blog is to share some of the experiences, stories and moments that make this place what it is... special!

Shekinah Website

Thursday, 17 December 2015

Christmas time has come to Shekinah. Many of us this time of
year are contemplating the desire to look at Jesus’s earthly walk with new eyes
for a fresh year ahead. For us at Shekinah, this season involves decorating
with lights and wreaths to create an atmosphere of celebration of Jesus’s
birth. We want to create that atmosphere for our big Christmas event: A Buncha
Guys Christmas concerts. These concerts are the best excuse for a supporter of
Shekinah such as yourself to find yourself within our walls during the
Christmas season.

We love to see familiar faces and new ones coming through the
Timber Lodge doors to experience with us the sights and sounds and smells and
tastes of Christmas. It is an opportunity to come together with our camp family
and make a human connection in the midst of this dark and frosty season. It is
one of those times you can confidently drive down the steep and wintery hill in
the dark and know with certainty that you will reach the top when you go to
leave and you are not alone in that endeavour. It is a time to hear some great
music that appeals to a wide swath of listeners that speaks to the heart and
invigorates the soul. You can hear the 4-part male voices of A Buncha Guys and
this year, we had the special treat of the unique blend only a family band
could achieve from the Friesen family. Thanks to Chris, Louise, Silas, Simone,
Godwin, Amos, Junia, and Caspian for providing us with joy from your singing
and many instruments. You truly were a special
guest.

Another bonus of coming to the Shekinah version of the Christmas
concert (as opposed the Knox concert in Saskatoon, which is also very good and
highly recommended) is that you get to enjoy a very fine selection of Christmas
baking from the Timber Lodge kitchen and that in itself is reason enough to
make the trip out. Take part in the fellowship time after the music has
finished ringing through the beams of the Timber Lodge and stay as long as you
like tasting the treats and enjoying the company of friends you haven’t seen
for a while who share your same love for the setting and mission of Shekinah. Consider
giving generously to support the work of Shekinah when you attend the concert
where the beauty of Shekinah’s ministry and the joy and hope of Christ’s coming
are manifest in the faces of those around you and the warm memories of what
camp has done in our lives and the lives of those who need it. While this year’s
concerts have come and gone, I hope to see you all when we do it again next
year and wish you and your family a merry Christmas.

It's getting closer!

In other news, the toboggan run on Quill Hill is getting
close to full snow coverage, one centimeter at a time it seems. It almost seems
like temperatures might actually stay below zero now so the ice for skating and
broomball should be ready to go soon but at the moment is not and although
snowshoeing and skiing are not really in the cards right now, the upside is
that hiking is still relatively easy because of the lack of snow and access to
all of our hiking trails is good to very good. So get outside here or wherever
you are and enjoy the beautiful outside weather which through the grace of God
we are able to enjoy despite the somewhat ominous implication that winter may
be fundamentally changing through a gradual shift in climatic norms to warmer
temperatures for Saskatchewan.

So in conclusion, may your holidays be filled with the love
of family and of God above who humbled himself 2015 years ago to be born in a
manger and live among us so that we may come to know his desire for us, that we
share his love with friend, enemy, and stranger so that we may fully embrace
the love he has for us, which is unconditional, undeserved, and wider than our understanding.
Merry Christmas.